Welcome to VegasMessageBoard
It appears you are visiting our community as a guest.
In order to view full-size images, participate in discussions, vote in polls, etc, you will need to Log in or Register.

oct 15-18

Flew in from Midway and met my son, who had been in Salt Lake for the past month, at McCarran. It worked perfect as both flights arrived about the same time. Picked up rental at Dollar and onto to TI, for a Saturday night check-in.
We felt fortunate to get a one-night Saturday check-in, but we both have Players Club cards with substantial play on them. In fact, my son got $100 of non-negotiable chips upon check-in. Considering room was $75, it was a $25 profit before we even hit the tables.
Decent room with straight-on view of Las Vegas Boulevard. Since it was about 7:00 pm, we headed to (comped) buffet. I ate this buffet two months ago and wasn't impressed. I'm still not impressed, even after chatting with the mother of the buffet general manager, who was in line next to me.
I didn't tell her that though.
It's above the mid-level buffets for quality, but far from Alladin/Mirage/Bellagio, etc. It somewhat confusing, lacks space and has some communication service issues on the line. I also say get rid of the American BBQ fare and go more gourmet. The traveling soup cart is a little wierd, as well.
The desserts are as good as any buffet in town and some of the dishes hold their own with other top-end joints. It was kind of fun eating there, but improvements are needed.
The last time I took in the Pirate show (a couple years ago), it was still the pirate show. I found it mildly entertaining. I do not care for the new Sirens show as much. It's intellectually-stale and more flash than substance.
I did like being able to show my room key and get front-row viewing, though.
After being up late Friday and having a long travel day, I called it an early night Saturday and crashed.
The highlight of Sunday was watching the early pro football games (some great endings) in the neighboring Stardust sportsbook. That's my favorite place to watch sports and we were even able to snag two seats. At TI, that would have been impossible.
The other highlight on Sunday was a trip to another of my fave places, the GVR buffet. As usual, it was outstanding, especially the med-rare lamb chops. The GVR doesn't have as many offerings as the casino big boys of buffets, but what they have is quality and it is comfortable ambience for buffet.
Regarding mile-long buffets, I think there is such a thing as overkill. GVR is just right.
After eating, we always head out to the top floor of the parking garage and take in the night-time view of Vegas.
Sunday and Monday nights were spent at the Frontier (atrium suite). This was comped, even though we didn't roll the dice there. They went from 10X odds to 5X, so we took a pass. Instead, it was off to a new craps' haunt, Main St Station for the 20X odds.
Is it just me, or does anyone else prefer the old FSE over the new and improved one. Maybe I'm too nostalgic.
On Sunday, the Frontier had a huge celebrity look-alike entertainment event for hurricane relief. From 7:00 till midnight, Gilley's had about 35 different impersonators come in and do their act. For a $10 donation, it was all the entertainment you could handle.
Some of it was good, some not so good. After awhile, it wore you out. Plus, there was a fair amount of auctioning of this and that and everything else.
Monday and Tuesday turned out to be some of the worst weather Vegas has had in quite some time. Monday was cloudy and drizzly and Tuesday had flash flooding. Ironically, the northern Illinois weather we left was mid 70s and sunny, unusual for that time of year.
Sometimes, you just need to get out of town and Monday was that day. I drove out to Valley of the Fire and spent the afternoon doing some solitary hiking. That was good for the soul and the rain held off most of the time.
I'll still take the red rocks part of Red Rock Canyon over Valley of the Fire for hiking.
We had some 2-1 buffet coupons to use up and made the mistake of going to Fiesta Rancho for dinner on Monday. Not good. We had been to Fiesta Henderson and really enjoyed it, that's why we opted for the other Fiesta. A big difference between the two.
On Tuesday, we dodged raindrops and spent much of day inside the Bellagio playing craps and doing their buffet. Bellagio doesn't have the greatest odds, (3X, 4X, 5X) but it is our favorite place to play and we have earned lots of $$$ there this year. This was the fifth trip for my son is he's probably made $5,000 there on the crap tables.
Some places you feel luckier than others.
After the Bellagio's opening water show, my personal Vegas must-see, we took off for airport with our billfolds full of cash and our stomachs full.
Once we got to the airport, we discovered out flight was delayed two hours. Fortunately, we were able get on an earlier flight. We got to the gate just as boarding was ending. That was too close for comfort, but it sure beat sitting in terminal C for an extra 2-3 hours.

Is it just me, or does anyone else prefer the old FSE over the new and improved one. Maybe I'm too nostalgic.

Click to expand...

I thought the same thing when I saw the "new and improved" show during the S&M trip. On that one the feature was girls in furry bikinis doing go-go dancing and breathing fire. Stupid. This past trip I saw an odd but intriguing alien (Area 51) show and a bit of one other. They weren't so bad. I agree that the programming hasn't kept pace with the technology available to them.

Old programming was much better--I loved the music!!! New ones with "plots" and no music are insipid and don't go nearly as well with a yard long mudslide....I feel terrible this trip report has been up a couple days and I didn't even see it. Sounds like you & your son know how to do Vegas well together!